1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fans and to heaters. More particularly, this invention relates to integrated fans and heaters that may alternatively be used as a fan or a heater.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently, there exists a variety of fans designed for creating a flow of circulating air in a room or other space. Typical fans comprise a rotating fan blade assembly, powered by an electric motor, mounted within a housing having a front and rear grill or cage. Upon rotation of the fan blade assembly, air is drawn from the rear of the housing through the rear grill and is forcibly propelled out the grill on the front of the housing, thereby creating a cooling flow of circulation in a room.
There also presently exist many types of heaters. Similar to fans, most conventional heaters comprise a rotating fan blade assembly, powered by an electric motor, mounted within a housing having a front and rear grill or cage. One or more heating elements are positioned within the housing, usually forwardly of the fan blade assembly. Upon rotation of the fan blade assembly, air is drawn from the rear of the housing through heating elements to heat the flow of air passing therethrough. The flow of heated air is then forcibly propelled out the grill on the front of the housing, thereby creating a flow of heated air in a room.
Obviously, cooling fans and heaters are in wide use. Most households usually have bothxe2x80x94a cooling fan to be used during summer months and a heater to be used during winter months. Unfortunately, this requires purchasing both units. Moreover, while one is being used, the other one is typically placed in storage. Further, during the months of Spring or Fall, there are many days where the cooling fan is used during the warm daylight hours and the heater is needed during cooler nighttime hours. During these occasions, both the conventional cooling fan and the heater must be kept out, ready for use, thereby wastefully decreasing floor space and otherwise xe2x80x9cclutteringxe2x80x9d the room.
There presently exists a need for a combined cooling fan and heater that integrates the functionality cooling fans and heaters by creating a cooling flow of circulation during summer months and by creating a flow of heated air during winter months.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art cooling fan and heater art and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the cooling fan and heater art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a combined cooling fan and heater that may function to provide a cooling flow of air or a heated flow of air.
Another object of this invention is to provide a combined cooling fan and heater that may function to provide a heated flow of air of various desired temperatures and air flow speeds.
Another object of this invention is to provide a combined cooling fan and heater comprising a fan blade assembly powered by a motor mounted within a housing, a heating assembly mounted rearwardly of said fan blade assembly and a switch for controlling the operation of said heating assembly and the motor to operate at a higher speed when used as a cooling fan and a lower speed when used as a heater.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention are set forth in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For the purpose of summarizing this invention, this invention comprises a combined cooling fan and heater. More particularly, the combination cooling fan and heater of the invention comprises a fan blade assembly rotatably mounted within a housing. In the preferred embodiment, the housing may simply comprise a wire cage supported by a floor stand. A motor is operatively connected to the fan blade assembly to cause rotation thereof. A motor control is provided for controlling the rotational speed of the motor and thus the rotational speed of the fan blade assembly. A heater assembly is positioned rearwardly of the fan blade assembly such that a portion of the air flowing through the fan blade assembly flows through the heating assembly.
An important feature of the combination cooling fan and heater of the invention is the positioning and design of the heating assembly of the fan blade assembly. Specifically, most resistive heating elements, such as ones employed in heating assembly of the subject invention, operate either on or off. Thus, resistive heating elements produce a fixed amount of heat. Too fast of airflow through the heating assembly would result in the airflow feeling too cool and therefore not warm even though the same amount of heat is being generated. Conversely, too slow of airflow through the heating assembly would result in the airflow feeling too hot. By positioning the heating assembly rearwardly of the fan blade assembly, only a portion of the airflow produced by the fan blade assembly actually flows through the heating assembly. By sizing the wattage and the number of resistive elements of the heating assembly relative to the amount of air flowing through the heating assembly at different fan speeds, the temperature of the airflow can be precisely controlled. The temperature of the airflow can be adjusted during use to provide the desired amount of heating without feeling too cold or too hot.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.